Colonial rioters executed Ma Curtis and Elton

The Colony’s mob executions of Mar Curtis and Elton mark a collapse of public order: a crowd, inflamed by accusations against a group that includes Mar’s family, takes two people to the Wall and throws them over. Galen Strauss watches from within the gathering, aware that the violence could extend to him and his wife, Mausami. The episode ends not with order restored, but with Ian directing Galen to retrieve hidden guns as the Watch tries to recover control.

Accusation and the gathering crowd

The crisis begins with a demand from Gloria Patal, who wants her daughter brought back while calling for the deaths of everyone else. Galen, observing her at the gate, recognizes a side of Gloria he had not seen before. Her demand sets the terms of the gathering: recover one family member, punish the rest.

The crowd’s accusations broaden beyond Gloria’s immediate demand. People say that the girl, Alicia, Caleb, Peter, Michael, and Jacob Curtis were responsible for what had happened. Galen cannot make sense of Jacob’s alleged role, but he recognizes that sense no longer governs the scene. At the gate, people shout and wave their arms; he imagines that Sanjay Patal might have been able to calm them, but Sanjay is in the Infirmary, babbling and weeping.

Mar Curtis and Elton are taken to the Wall

The crowd first seizes Mar Curtis, though Galen understands that she is not the person they truly want. She is brought to the gate and thrown over the Wall amid the crowd’s cheers. Rather than ending the gathering, this first execution emboldens it. Galen senses that the crowd is only beginning, and Hodd Greenberg calls out that Elton had been with the accused group in the Lighthouse.

The crowd then rushes to the Lighthouse and takes Elton, an older blind man, to the Wall. He too is thrown over while the crowd cheers. The sequence makes the mob’s logic plain: accusation and proximity to the accused are enough to expose people to punishment, even when they are not the crowd’s primary target.

Galen’s precarious position

Galen keeps quiet as the mob acts. He anticipates that someone may ask where his wife, Mausami, is and whether she was involved, making him and his family potential targets. His silence is therefore not simply observation; it reflects the danger of being associated with anyone the crowd has named.

The killings also leave Galen as the only Second Captain, since the other Seconds are dead. Ian wants to preserve at least the appearance that the Watch remains in charge. Galen doubts the sense of pursuing the accused, but understands that the crowd must be stopped before it throws more people over the Wall.

Hidden weapons and the aftermath

Ian takes Galen aside and tells him that twelve crates of guns are hidden behind a wall in the storage room. He says he does not care one way or the other about the Walker and leaves Galen to decide what to do about Mausami; his immediate demand is that Galen bring him the guns. The concealed stockpile introduces a practical response to the crisis, but the scene does not show what happens after Galen receives the order.

The executions thus leave the Colony caught between popular vengeance and a weakened institution. The Watch’s authority survives only as an appearance that Ian is trying to maintain, while the hidden guns suggest that restoring control may require force. Galen’s perspective connects that public breakdown to private vulnerability: the mob’s reach could extend from Mar and Elton to his own household.